“It definitely has the marketing clout of Apple and the style appeal,” he told Computerworld Australia.

Many existing smartwatches are “ugly black squares” but Apple has spent a lot of money on making the Watch a device people “want to have,” he said.

He added that Apple has historically been good at taking existing technologies and improving their usability – as they did with MP3 players and phones.

“Businesses will definitely have to handle bring your own wearables,” said Gedda.

“Organisations already have wearables coming into the workplace and as they become more prolific, then they’ll be like the smartphones before them, able to read and view company data on the device.”

“That should be a concern for IT managers because on one hand you have the productivity promises of people using their own technology ... but you’ve obviously got to balance that with the potential risk that having unmanaged devices on the network brings.”

Companies that already have bring-your-own (BYOD) device strategies will be better prepared for an influx of wearable devices, he said.

While the same apps are available on smartphones and tablets, there could be cases where it is more practical—or more fashionable—for workers to do these functions on a watch, he said.

“It’s all about form factor.”

For example, because the Apple Watch is a fashion accessory, it might have a place in retail and other customer-facing jobs, he said. Or it could be useful for a pilot who can’t keep a phone in their pocket, he said.

“There’s no shortage of blue sky opportunities for wearables in business.”

In some ways, wearables in the workplace is not a new concept, noted Gedda. While not slick, do-it-all devices like the modern batch of smartwatches, wearable computers have been used in a variety of sectors, including healthcare, mining and the military.

“There’s not a lot of standards out there — a lot of devices are designed fit for purpose,” he said.

“The new wave of wearable technology has an opportunity to standardise a lot of that with accessories and applications.”

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